Finger Deep within the Borderline
by SmileBright
Summary: Bella x Edward. Both human. College setting. Bella meets Jacob, bad boy, thinks that's what she wants. Edward's just a friend... or is he? Sex, drugs, and rock n' roll all included. Hop on for a good ride.
1. Chapter 1

_Finger Deep within the Borderline_

_All credit goes to Stephanie Meyer; they're her characters, I'm just using them for a little fun. ;) Basics of this story: Bella and Edward, both human and in college, after a torturous six months, realize they kind of belong together. You know how it goes, Bella will be after Jacob and the truth will finally dawn upon her... This story will include: sex, drugs, rock n' roll, and expletives. So the rating, although it may seem harsh because I'm not sure how smutty things will get, is for the better…_

_If you're reading this, I truly hope you enjoy the story and take it for what it is. I don't promise anything specially eventful or innovative in the realm of Fanficiton, just a good ole' Bella x Edward story, based on personal experience. This is mostly for me, but I'd love it if you'd join the ride. Because discovering love is one thing, one AMAZING thing, and being able to share it with all of you, just a perk I suppose._

_Another aside, the title comes from a song by Tool, "Stinkfist," one of my recent favorites from a band that one awesome jackass has shown me. You know who you are._

_LASTLY, I swear, this story will be EXTREMELY different from my last. I'm years older and wiser…_

XxX

I exhaled a deep breath and plopped myself onto my new bed, a twin long, to be exact. I was in college, in the big kids' league now, and for that, I got a big kid's bed; albeit it was an uncomfortable one with little padding, worn away from the loads of sex, or loads of blown loads, that had occurred on the bed, but I wasn't going to let a couple horny kids ruin my fun.

I had two roommates, not the best of housing situations, especially coming from my own room in a house inhabited by a total of two people including me, but it could be worse. My roommates' names were Lauren and Angela. Angela, the quiet gamer type, I could tell would take a little bit of coercing to get her to warm up to me. Nothing against her, she just had one of those really shy personalities. I was amazed, though, by the collection of video games and instruments she had brought with her to our triple. A guitar, a saxophone, a flute, and an amp (I know not an instrument just elaborating… sheesh) was just an abbreviated list of all the musical gadgets she had dragged along. I wasn't surprised though. After all, she was a declared sound recording technology major. Not something I could ever fathom doing considering the sheer amount of math and tech savvy required to complete the simplest tasks. Just the idea of it made my head hurt.

Lauren, on the other hand, was a birdie, a flockin' one at that. Nothing against her either, just, she liked all the attention she got and made sure she got it. One of those girls who spends two hours in the morning getting ready for _school_, just to get a couple of head-turns. Now I'm not sure if those head-turns were for the amount of cleavage she showed, or for the profuse amounts of perfume she sprayed, but can you blame a brother for trying to get some fresh air, out in the open? But regardless, she was nice enough and politely carried out conversations with me so we had no issues.

Now that I was moved in came the bigger issue: making friends, I guess. The idea taunted me; it was never something I was good at. I was a loner, like my dad Charlie. And no amount of human contact was ever going to change that. But, I told myself, I had to try. I knew that I wouldn't find what I was looking for among my own roommates so I ventured to the third floor. After all, my building was only four floors, first and third inhabited by women, second and fourth by men. Obviously I wasn't going to the second and fourth floors. Men were a foreign species to me. And I rather not expose everyone to my tell-tale blush the first day.

Thankfully, I already knew a girl on the third floor from orientation, Alice, and I knew I could count on her for some sense of friendship.

And that's how I found myself trudging up the stairs, knocking on her door, and plastering a smile to my face.

"Hello?" a smiling, blond girl, shyly answered the door. So I see we were in the same boat then…

"Hi, I'm actually looking for Alice?" I didn't mean it to come out as a question, it kind of just, happened? Whenever I first met someone, I always tended to question myself a lot. And it showed.

"Yeah, come in," Alice chimed. She was just putting the last finishing touches on her impeccably-made bed. Not one crease in sight. I did a mental eye-roll. What was with this girl and perfection? Who really ever gave a shit? In _college_ no less.

I took several hesitant steps forward, just enough for the blond girl to shut the door, and engaged in some small talk with Alice. Although we hadn't seen each other since orientation in June and it had been three months, conversation with her was surprisingly not uncomfortable. I mean, after orientation, I really shouldn't have expected it to be. After all, we had easily warmed up to one another exchanging the pains and grievances we dealt with on a monthly basis. You ladies know what I'm talking about…

After a bit of chatter about this and that, Alice and I decided to try and wrangle up a bunch of people to play "Apples to Apples." You can say whatever shit you want about that game, but I still love it; if anything, for the sheer ridiculousness of it.

With Alice's can-do attitude and relentless insistence, we brushed through all the floors, including those with the male species, and gathered a significant crowd to join us in the dormitory basement for a sure-to-be awkward, but eventful game.

STUDIOUS. SMART. STUDIES WAY TOO MUCH. MINECRAFT? These were all things written blatantly across the foreheads of the kids who decided to join us in the basement. I really shouldn't have been surprised, I lived in an _Honors_ dorm… After all, I knew it was written all over me too.

After much card shuffling and furniture rearranging, the game finally began. As each person put down their card, they also introduced themselves. For a bunch of nerds, I was surprised how comfortable some of these kids felt around other people, _new_ people. I tried to play myself off with a robust character, a bit edgy, daring in what I would say, borderline appropriate and comments that would be expected of my male counterparts. This way, people here would not see me as they did in high school, people who never bothered to look beyond my bright rain jacket or backpack, but as a young, well-defined, and totally self-assured woman. Except for the nervous laugh, I almost had it mastered. I think everyone was convinced, and I was thoroughly satisfied.

When the time came for Day to pick a card, yes, Day, one of Alice's roommates, she gracefully leaned forward, arm and hand extended, and proceeded to fall from the chair, smack her forehead against the coffee table, and fall to the ground. Everyone sat there, stunned. What had just happened?

But before anyone could really make sense of the situation or get up from their seats to help her, she began violently shaking, seizing to be exact. Her eyes rolled to the back of her head and her body kept twisting and jerking unnaturally. It all happened so fast I'm not sure who moved the furniture out of the way or kept her jaw shut, making sure she didn't bite her tongue, all I remember was standing there in utter shock. I had never seen anyone have a seizure before. And I wanted to be a doctor! Was this how I was going to react? Do absolutely nothing when someone needed help?

The EMTs were called and took care of the situation from there. After Day was taken to the hospital, some brave, remaining souls helped me pick up all the scattered cards around the floor. The mood to be social was effectively killed and everyone returned back to their respective rooms without so much as a goodbye.

I knew classes hadn't even started yet, but my eyes were certainly starting to open…

XxX

_Clarifications (or things that I feel you may not know but really should):_

_Alice, in this story, WILL NOT BE Edward's sister. Any members of the Cullen clan will be separate entities as far as I'm concerned… for now. _

_Birdie is slang for a girl who sucks a lot of, well, you know. Just putting it out there for those of you who had any doubts…_

_In addition, if anything in the story seems random, that's because as I said, this story is mostly for me. So every event in the story is the truth, or some semblance of it, and therefore has been included because I would like to, you could say, poetically document the progression of my first truly meaningful personal relationship. Therefore, many of the characters may seem "out of character," but they fit pretty well with people in real life. Any feedback would be appreciated but is not necessary. If you have something nice to say, great! But if you have something to comment on or a suggestion for my writing, even better! If it weren't for you guys, my writing would never improve! _

_Finally, I'd just like to thank you for taking the time to read this first chapter, of a story I promise I will finish, and encourage you to keep reading and broadening your literary horizons, always._

_P.P.S. If you're wondering when things will get juicy, I am planning to introduce Jacob into the story next chapter. I will not be doing any JPOV, however, I will certainly include EPOV when I get there… If you have any further persisting questions, feel free to ask!_


	2. Chapter 2

_Not much to say. Capoeira, as is mentioned in this chapter, is a form of Brazilian martial arts. It is very fun and I recommend if you're looking for a physical challenge, you check it out sometime. Very cool stuff. And I'm not even Brazilian! And of course, it's all Stephanie's…_

XxX

Knock. Knock, knock, knockknockknockkno-. Eh, at least I could distinguish it as _not_ an R.A.'s knock.

Alice's head peeped around the corner.

"_Hey_ Bella! You have a minute?"

"Sure," I said as I turned from my laptop, and got up to properly greet Alice with a hug. She then proceeded to usher me back into my chair and told me to get on Facebook.

"I _have_ to show you something. Remember how, a while back, there was a demonstration in the basement for that capoeira thing?" Alice was basically hopping up and down at this point.

"Yeah, I guess?" This question, I accompanied with a quizzical look because I really didn't remember.

"Well, the teacher is… HOT! Oh my god, I have to show you a picture! I just friended him on Facebook and… you _have_ to come to a class with me."

I chuckled. Alice, super excited, where had I seen _that_ before? Oh yeah, for just about every guy she came across.

As Alice's fingers gently glided across my keyboard, she explained to me,

"So his name is Jacob. He's a junior. Totally hot. Quilette, no less…" and as she kept going, I averted my eyes from her face to the screen. I took one look and shrugged my shoulders.

Alice was not pleased.

"Oh c'mon, you _cannot_ be serious! Look at him. Look at him!" she stated with such fervor as her right pointer finger came dangerously close to puncturing my screen.

"I am… I just don't think he's that great?" I was trying to placate Alice but realized I was going about it the absolute wrong way.

"Okay, tell you what, next capoeira class, I'll come and… appraise him for myself. 'Kay?"

Alice beamed. She had won. She _always_ won.

"But wait," I said, and Alice's face immediately started to grow worried.

"What _is_ capoeira? Just so, you know, I have an idea of what I'm going to do…"

Alice's face immediately sling-shot back to a smile as she said, "Oh, it's just a form of Brazilian karate… I think you'd like it. You do karate right?"

I nodded. Yes, I did karate. But that didn't mean I was cut out for Brazilian martial arts. The word Brazilian made everything sound way more intense and, if I had to admit to myself, _sexy_. The worry began to build; I knew I would make a fool of myself in front of a sure-to-be male crowd and was already dreading submitting to Alice's whims. Knowing Alice, she'd be over this guy and the whole capoeira class in a week. But I had already succumbed to her wishes and I did not take promises lightly.

"Okay Alice, when is the class again?"

"Tuesdays and Thursdays, seven to nine. I can't wait!" Alice squealed as she gave me a surprisingly strong hug and skipped her way out of the room while signaling a light 'ta-ta' with her delicate fingers. I was left feeling where my ribs used to be and reassuring myself that I could still breathe properly.

XxX

What was I thinking? Really? I hadn't shaved, first of all. Always a no-no when you were going to meet new people and your legs would be showing. Because no matter if your hair is not really visible, it still always manages to make you super self-conscious. Secondly, for my first capoeira class, I had decided on knee-length spandex and a t-shirt that read "Freshmen-Sophmore Meet." _So_ stupid. The spandex obviously a bad choice because it was the first time I was meeting these people and I wasn't even wearing underwear, _so_ inappropriate. They would probably all think that I was slutty, and… the hyperventilating had already begun. And my t-shirt, a serious 'wtf' moment. What was I _thinking_? I knew the t-shirt was from a high school track meet but it did not negate the fact that the shirt said 'Freshmen.' Sometimes I wondered why I lived in an Honors dorm when I made decisions like these…

After a solid month of school, I had managed to make some new friends, mostly of the female sex. Men were still a matter of high anxiety for me and I was about to immerse myself in a situation with only one female companion. It's as if I was _trying_ to punish myself. But it was too late to turn back now, Alice and I had already reached the recreation center and were scanning our I.D.s for entry. We made our way up the stairs and stood outside one of the multi-purpose rooms. The lights were off and no one was around.

I gave Alice a skeptical look and said, "Are you sure there's class today? The lights aren't even on…"

"Yeah, I'm sure. He's always a little late…" Alice said as she plopped herself down onto the ground outside the door. I figured I'd join her and plopped myself down too.

Within the minute, a couple other guys showed up and introduced themselves. I would soon learn this would be the standard capoeira bunch: Rahul, Mike, Eric, all extremely polite and nice. The nervousness began to wear off and I considered that, maybe, class wouldn't be so bad. Finally, after some small talk and the guys joking about how in the world Alice had convinced another girl to show up, who I could only assume to be Jacob finally arrived.

No surrounding halo, no excessive wind, and no catchy song in the background, just an ordinary-looking guy casually making his way up the stairs. When he got to the top he took one look around, and began greeting everyone individually. He did that whole bromance handshake with the boys, gave Alice a hug and light kiss on the check and, wait. A kiss on the cheek? I really hoped this guy was not going to pull that on me. A guy that close? Oh no. Not something I wanted to deal with. Because no matter _who_ it was, I knew I would blush.

When it came to me, Jacob glanced down and his eyes slowly worked their way up my body. I tried very hard to keep the blush at bay, and for the moment, I did. I only squirmed a little bit. I gave myself a mental round of applause. Jacob then, in a suave motion, put his hand out and said,

"Hi. My name's Jacob…" with a wry smile.

I took his hand, hesitantly, and managed to stumble out, "My name's Bella."

"Welcome, _Bella_…" He let it roll off the tip of his tongue, as if appraising the value of my name, and the way it tasted in his mouth, and proceeded to gently let go of my hand and unlock the room door. We all then shuffled in behind him and, as I learned was customary of the class, followed everyone in taking off my shoes and socks.

We formed a circle and began. Jacob cranked what sounded like primitive beats and made us do a half-hour's worth of cardio exercise. I was seriously regretting my decision to come at this point and class was only one fourth of the way over. We then began the capoeira aspect of the class, doing what seemed like cartwheels and acrobatics to me, an obvious 10% of which I could actually do. At one point, when I was in line to try a new move that Jacob had just taught everyone, and he was, eh, _watching_, the other students to make sure their moves were right, he looked at me and said,

"You know your name, belle, in Portuguese means beauty…"

I gave a nervous laugh and said, "Yeah, its meaning is kind of universal in all languages…" I quickly averted my gaze back to the students practicing and prepared myself to do the move, or at least, not to trip, fall, and die.

After a painstaking amount of repetition, and more repetition, over every move, Jacob announced it was time to make the roda. As I soon learned, the roda turned out to be a circle made by the students, with Jacob at its head, to form a sort of fighting ring. By this time, I had certainly worked up a sweat, visible from the clear pit stains on my white shirt. _Attractive_. The worst part being, Jacob said because I was new to the class, I had to enter the roda at least twice even though I had no clue what I was doing.

So for a good five minutes I stayed on the outer edge of the roda, standing and clapping to the beat of the song, hoping that my non-participation would go unnoticed. But with me, I _have_ no such luck. Jacob motioned for me to meet him at the head of the circle. I shook my head. I didn't _want_ to. He persisted and I felt it would be rude not to comply with his request so I followed him.

We proceeded to drop down into an almost crouching position at the head of the circle, knees bent, on our toes, but backs slightly bent and relaxed, and waited for the couple in the middle to end their game. Once they shook each other's hands and exited the circle, Jacob looked up from his hands at me and put his hands out for what I assumed would be a motivational double low five. When I went to give him the fives, he grasped my hands for a prolonged moment, let go, nodded his head, and he was off. I followed with a cartwheel and began "playing" with Jacob. My moves were pitiful, and slow, but at least I could rest assured the quality of my technique was good because of my previous martial arts background. We played for a short while until one compassionate soul bided me out of the game and let me go back to the outer edges, where I felt safe and comfortable. Don't get me wrong, it's not that I felt threatened that someone would hurt me in the circle, but having to show off moves I just learned in front of a group of men was not something I really wanted to do, _especially_ considering half the moves involved legs in the air, or spread open, which can be very awkward in front of people you've just met with skin-tight spandex… I did a mental Homer Simpson "D'oh!"

I eventually ended up in the circle once again, but was bided out quickly due to my lack of experience and obvious discomfort. After about fifteen minutes of playing in the roda, Jacob looked around and with a nod as if to say "Good work, everyone," exited the circle, and turned off the music. He then returned to the circle, put his right arm to his heart, his hand in a fist, and said in a questioning tone,

"Axé?"

Everyone nodded in agreement and also put their right fists to their hearts. I followed in suit, not be the odd man, erm, woman, out. On three we all repeated the "axé" and put our fists high in the air. Honestly, I felt a bit silly, but hey, if that's what they do, it's what they do…

Alice and I put on our shoes, and she stayed surprisingly quiet. I could tell that was only because she was gushing inside but wanted to wait until we were alone to discuss the class, or more accurately, Jacob.

As we were leaving, Jacob gave Alice the same hug and kiss and was as bold as to do the same for me. He drew me into a hug, both of us nice and sweaty, _yum_, and gave a light kiss on my cheek that seemed to linger even after his lips had left my skin. While still close to me, but pulling away, he said:

"Nice meeting you _Bella_. Hope you'll come back soon."

I smiled, nodded, and made my merry way out of there. I knew there had to be some form a blush on my face and I had to escape. _So_ embarrassing. And this guy was totally going to take it personally as a sign that I liked him or something, totally preposterous because I had just met him, and ugh. _Alice_.

After we were a safe distance away from the class and all its members, Alice turned towards me and stopped me in my tracks. She was a feisty one that girl was.

"_So_?" gushed Alice.

I rolled my eyes and said, "Fine, fine, _fine_, Alice. You were right. He is hot but, whatever..."

Alice was kind enough to spare me the "I told you so," and began walking again in her way, a hybrid between gliding and skipping, something so totally her, no one would ever be able to recreate it. I slowly trudged behind, my body crying out with each step. I worked hard, harder than I'd have liked to. And to my disappointment, I liked Jacob, also, a little more than I would have liked to.

XxX

_Hah! Little teaser for y'all. Now I know I didn't describe Jacob in NEARLY enough detail for anyone's content but that will come later, probably next chapter, when Bella actually looks more into him, or at him, should I say. After all, she just met the kid. Let her have a class or two before she's crushing. Next chapter may be EPOV though, not 100% positive yet...  
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